Should we renovate or remodel our home before selling?

Dalila Arellano

One of the most common questions we hear from our listing clients is whether or not they should renovate or remodel their homes prior to putting them on the market.

Whether your goal is to make more money off the sale of the home or to help it to sell faster, part of our services to our clients is to help you figure out where to focus your time, energy and money.

Make repairs first

Concentrate first on making needed repairs. The buyer will most likely ask for these fixes, especially if they are for problems that show up on the home inspection report, so making them before listing the home helps avoid delays during the transaction.

Being proactive is always a smart move in real estate

Some of these tasks include fixing peeling paint, broken windows, torn screens, dripping faucets and loose or missing handrails.

Any problems that affect health and safety should be addressed first. Then, use what’s left of your budget to make the cosmetic fixes that are attractive to homebuyers in your home’s price range.

Consider minor upgrades

“Don’t spend money that won’t yield a return on the investment. The best expenditures for most markets are paint, carpet, light and plumbing fixtures,” Matthew George, the chief appraiser of Eagle Appraisals Inc. in Denver, Colo. tells The Wall Street Journal.

Decide which room or rooms require the most updating and start with those. Minor upgrades, such as new appliances or kitchen and bathroom countertops will do more to change your sales price compared to redoing the kitchen or bathroom entirely.

In fact, a major kitchen or bathroom remodel is a money pit, according to Remodeling Magazine. The magazine’s 2019 Cost vs. Value Report warns that you’ll spend $ 66,196 on a kitchen remodel, on average, yet you’ll only recoup 62.1 percent of that when you sell the home.

You’ll do better on a minor kitchen remodel, spending $22,507 and realize an 80.5 percent return.

There is simply no way you will make back what you spend when it comes to remodeling or room additions.

In fact, the repair or renovation task that returns the most is a new garage door (97.5 percent). To get the details about the study, visit remodeling.hw.net.

Save money or time?

In a real estate transaction, time is most definitely money. The longer a home sits on the market, the better the chances that the homeowner will end up taking less than planned to get it sold.

The most common reason a home doesn’t sell is that it’s overpriced. Second to that, however, are homes that aren’t in decent condition.

Keep in mind that the first week that the house is on the market is known in the industry as “the honeymoon period.” This is when new listings receive the most attention and the more people that view the home, the quicker it will sell.

A recent study from a large real estate analytics firm finds that homes get four times as many visitors in the first week they’re on the market than they do one month after listing.

With repairs and cosmetic fixes out of the way, your home may be the belle of the real estate market during that first week.

We’re happy to meet with you and offer suggestions on which repairs to make first and on which tasks to focus on after that.